


Sorta Like Starving

by nerdbird26



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Child Abuse, Denial of Feelings, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Religious Conflict, Sleepovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-18 21:20:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18126626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdbird26/pseuds/nerdbird26
Summary: One week after Sal discovered the crumpled note in the school bathroom, he was determined to uncover more clues about Travis’s life.Meanwhile, Travis was dealing with a mystery of his own.





	1. Sal’s Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal seeks advice from a friend.

It was Sal’s last period of the day, science. It was one that Sal frequently enjoyed, considering his love of learning and physics. School was usually a mine field consisting of Sal trying to avoid bullies and unwanted confrontation, but science was the one period that made Sal at ease.

His only friend in the class, and partner for every group assignment, was Todd. Even though Todd was much smarter than he was, he never made Sal feel dumb. They always helped each other out and seemed to bounce off one another. So when Mr. Fletcher, the physics teacher, asked the students to pair up for their next assignment, Todd and Sal naturally joined forces.

The room was filled with chatter and whispers from the other students. The two boys worked swiftly in silence, only sending out a question once or twice when one of them needed help on a question.

Todd’s pencil dashed across the paper effortlessly. Sal, however, was falling a bit behind. For almost a week, a thought had been gnawing at the back of his head. It was something that he should bring up to someone closer, like Larry, but he just couldn’t concentrate with the lingering thoughts any longer.

“Pst. Todd.”

“Yeah?”

“Question.”

“If it’s about number fourteen, then the answer is pretty simple. You just need to-“

“No, not about science!” Sal hissed. “It’s about something else.”

Todd suddenly stopped working. He tilted his head up at the direction of Mr. Fletcher’s desk, where the teacher was dozing off.

“Alright. What is it?”

“I found something. In the boys bathroom.”

“When?”

“Last week. I found a crumpled up note by the trash can. I think it was like a confession note, or a love letter. And I think it’s from-“ Sal stopped, looked around the classroom, then waved Todd to lean in closer. “Travis.”

“Travis? Writing love letters?” Todd’s nose crinkled in confusion. “Are you sure it was from him?”

“I mean, I think. He was in one of the stalls crying when I walked in.” Sal twirled his pencil between his fingers, thinking. “Look, for Travis’s sake, promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to say?”

“My lips are sealed, Sally.”

“Alright. The note I found said some things along the lines of ‘this isn’t how a boy should feel’ and ‘my dad would kill me if he found out.’ I’ve been wondering if maybe Travis is...y’know.” Sal shrugged, hoping Todd would know what he was getting at.

Todd started at Sal for a moment with a blank expression, then his face snapped into surprise. “Travis? Really!? Please, Sal. That’s almost insulting, especially to me.”

“Oh, come on. I’m not saying he is, but...just think about it. His language, his pent up anger, the note. Plus, his dad is a preacher. Who knows what’s going on at home.”

“Hmph. Maybe. But I’m still not buying it. His dad is a prick and so is he.” Todd picked up his pencil again and turned back to his work. “C’mon, Sal. We only have a few minutes to get this done.”

Defeated, Sal continued his work as well. His mind continuously fought between the questions on the page and his discussion with Todd. If Todd, the smartest and gayest kid in the whole school, didn’t believe that Travis was gay, then what could Sal do? Maybe he was reading too much into the weird note.

But then again, Todd didn’t know Travis well enough. Nobody did. How could anyone have any idea what that kid was like? It didn’t take smarts to figure Travis out. Just a little bit of searching.

And that’s exactly what Sal was gonna do.


	2. Home Is Where Hell Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travis goes home.

The final bell of the day rang and the halls were flooded with tired students. Everyone made their way out of the building to go home. Most of them headed towards the buses, but a few others, including Travis, walked to the parking lot.

A majority of the kids there piled into their cars and rode home, Travis was perfectly able to drive, but instead he looked around the lot, searching for the familiar fading gray car his father drove. Even though he had passed his drivers test and was old enough to drive alone, his father refused to let him drive. He feared that his son would disobey him by driving around town instead of coming home immediately after school.

Off in a solitary corner of the parking lot was his father’s car. Travis’s father sat in the driver seat, one arm hanging outside of the rolled down window. The other hand was tapping on the dashboard, almost impatiently. Travis climbed into the passenger seat. Without a word, Travis’s father started the car and pulled out of the school parking lot.

“How was school, Travis?” His father began with his usual saying.

“Fine.” Travis replied with the same monotone answer he gave everyday.

“Did you pass out those pamphlets like I told you to do?”

“Nobody wanted any.” Travis lied. The first few days his father instructed him to pass out the church pamphlets, other students either mocked him or actively avoided him. Ever since then he had stopped, but he didn’t have enough courage to tell his father about that.

“Hmph. Typical. You youths have no idea about the importance of churches like mine. They always end up getting themselves into trouble. Doing drugs, having sex, getting drunk, and whatever else. They don’t even bother to-“

At that point Travis had started to zone out. He was staring out the window at other passing cars and people walking along the sidewalk. He was used to these types of talks from his father and, frankly, he was tired of them. His eyelids even began to fall before the car lurched to a sudden stop. In an instant, his whole body crashed into the dashboard and his face nearly smashed into it.

“Hey! Were you even listening to me, boy?” His father bellowed. “What did I tell you about dozing off when I’m talking to you?”

“I’m s-sorry, dad. I was listening. It w-won’t happen again.” Travis stammered, adjusting himself in his seat.

“Hmph.” The conversation ended. The remainder of the car ride was left with uncomfortable silence. After ten excruciatingly long minutes, Mr. Phelps pulled up to their driveway. Their home was compact two-story home with a hardly-used basement.

Both of them entered the house. Travis opened his mouth to ask when dinner would be ready, but his father cut him off.

“Travis, I’m far too tired to cook today. Just find something to eat in the pantry.” He grumbled and departed into his bedroom, where his mother was probably already asleep. Travis, left alone in the living room, lost his appetite and was replaced with sudden exhaustion. He slumped to his room without looking for something to eat.

He shut his door behind him and plopped into bed. He zipped open his book bag, listened closely for any noises coming from his father, and pulled out a journal. Travis flipped to one of the pages. It was filled with his frantic handwriting and scribbles. Most of it was nonsense, but the legible parts read:

_I don’t really know why I’m writing this. I would rather die than let you see this. I just need some closure. Or something._

He flipped to another page.

_I shouldn’t be feeling this way about you. It isn’t right. I can’t even see your face. Your hair is so_

Some illegible scribbles and a messy doodle of a pigtailed person followed. Next.

_I’m in love with you. But I hate it. I hate myself. Fuck this is so stupid._

Travis, frustrated, shut the journal closed and shoved it into the depths of his bag. He tossed it off his bed and wrapped himself in his covers. He felt desperately alone. Guilt pounded in his heart. Disgust ran through his veins. Self hatred pierced his head. He wanted to bury himself in his blankets until he disappeared. He bit down on his knuckles to keep himself from crying out loud.

He stayed like that until exhaustion overcame him and he drifted to sleep. That night he had no dreams, or if he did he couldn’t recall them in the morning. But sleep was a million times better than being awake with his thoughts.


	3. Staring and Keeping Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal over analyzes everything.

Sal sat in between his friends at the lunch table. Larry was sitting to his right while Todd and Ashley were to his left. His friends were too busy munching on the low quality school pizza to notice Sal’s silence. His head rested on his hand as he gazed at an empty seat on the other side of the cafeteria.

An empty seat usually used by Travis.

Travis’s absence wouldn’t be too unusual, since he didn’t like Pizza Fridays, but Sal’s mind wandered to where he could be. He thought back to math class from just a few minutes, where he had caught Travis staring at him. As Mrs. Packerton continued with her lesson and busily scribbled down equations on the chalk board, Sal had been doodling in his notebook.

A clutter of drawings invaded his math notes. Sal was so lost in his world that the classroom around him seemed to vanish. If it weren’t for a slight glimmer of a sixth sense, he wouldn’t have noticed the pair of eyes staring straight at him. His pencil stopped moving, and he glanced up. Due to his bright blue hair in pigtails and his prosthetic mask, it wasn’t surprising for people to stare. He just didn’t expect for that person to be Travis.

Travis wasn’t a one to stare. Of course he was a bully to Sal and his friends, but he wasn’t a “point and whisper and laugh behind your hands” kind of bully. He would throw a punch when agitated, and he never missed an opportunity to call him any sort of close-minded name. Ever since the first week of high school, Travis’s hatred towards Sal had been as direct as possible.

And what was more unusual was that Travis didn’t seem to hate him in that moment. His face wasn’t covered with his usual sneer and his eyes didn’t burn with hate. He was just staring at him intently. Like he was looking at clouds roll by or reading a book. It wasn’t even a “glance over your shoulder” stare. Travis had rearranged himself in his chair to have most of his body turned towards Sal, just to get a better look.

When Sal had caught him, he locked eyes with him for a split second. Travis’s face was serene, and in the next moment, his eyes winded with panic and darted back to his own desk. He turned away from Sal completely, his shoulders arching up like he was trying to hide himself from the blue haired boy. It was surprising that Travis hadn’t spat out something like “What are you looking at?” or that he didn’t even call him something like “queer.” He just turned around and acted like it never happened.

That single moment had given Sal hope. Maybe Travis didn’t hate him or his friends. The note. The staring. He had even noticed that Travis has been bothering him less than usual recently. These clues were small, almost insignificant, but it didn’t stop Sal from writing them down in the back of his math journal. It was hard trying to decipher the clues by himself, but he wasn’t sure that his friends were ready to hear it yet. Sal trusted and loved his friends, but they had grown such a disliking to Travis that it was almost impossible to bring up the subject. So he kept the notebook and clues to himself.

“Um, hello? Earth to Sal? Come in Sal.”

A hand was waving back and forth right in front of his face. Sal blinked once and was brought back to the rowdy lunch room. Ashley chuckled beside him.

“Gosh! We thought we lost you there, Sally Face. Lunch in nearly over and you haven’t even eaten anything. Is something wrong?”

Ash’s concerned tone sends Sal into a frenzy. “What? N-no, no, not at all. I’m fine! I was just... thinking.” Sal checked the clock on the beige cafeteria wall. “Oh man, lunch is almost over! I’ll be right back. I’m heading to the bathroom. See ya, guys!” Sal flung his book bag over his shoulder and hurried out of the cafeteria. The rest of his friends stared at him and he left, too confused to follow or ask anything.

“Did he not hear me say lunch was almost over?” Ashley questioned. “He seemed really quiet and... zoned out today. Did anyone else notice that?”

“Yeah, man. I knew he was acting weird today. Maybe he forgot to take his meds this morning,” Larry added.

“Perhaps,” Todd continued. For a moment he thought about bringing up his converstaion with Sal in science class yesterday, but it was not to bring up Travis or Sal’s “theory.”

Meanwhile in the boys bathroom, Sal locked himself in the last stall. He pulled out his math notebook and flipped to the final pages where he kept his notes about Travis. Stuffed in between the pages was the note left by the trash. Sal’s eyes scanned the note once, twice, three times. It almost seemed like an invasion of privacy, which made Sal a bit guilty. But his curiosity always got the better of him. He put the note in its original spot and took out a pen from his bag.

“I caught Travis staring at me. Not in a mean way. He was just staring. Maybe he doesn’t hate me. If only I could”

Then the bathroom door swung open.


End file.
